Carlisle ready for period of 'mayhem' to clean up football in wake of Terry acquittal

Professional Footballers' Association chairman Clarke Carlisle is prepared for a period of 'mayhem' in football if it helps the game clean up its act in the wake of the John Terry court case.

Terry was acquitted of a racially aggravated public order offence by chief magistrate Howard Riddle at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Acquitted: John Terry was found not guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in the match between Chelsea and QPR

It was alleged that he had called Anton Ferdinand a 'f****** black c***' but the England star claimed he was sarcastically repeating a slur that the QPR defender mistakenly thought he had used during a Premier League match last year.

Terry could still face charges from within the game as the Football Association continue to investigate the incident.

An FA spokesman said after the verdict: 'The FA notes the decision in the John Terry case and will now seek to conclude its own inquiries.'

Flashpoint: The moment Terry and Ferdinand clashed during the match

But the case also helped shine a light on the wider issue of players' contact to each other, with Ferdinand acknowledging in his evidence that aside from the racial aspect, the other terms of abuse are routinely exchanged between players on the pitch.

Carlisle said: 'I think generally there is a very high level of abusive language that goes on on the pitch and it just seems to be par for the course, but I don't agree that it should be that way.

'In order to change it it would take a very strong line from the referees, a very strong line from the governing bodies and it would probably cause mayhem for the short-term period.

'We do have the regulations within the game in order to stamp out any kind of foul and abusive language, but they are just not enforced to the nth degree.'

FIFA's Laws of the Game list 'using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures' as a sending-off offence and, if their use is as widespread as suggested in Ferdinand's evidence, there would be fears of games regularly being abandoned due to teams dropping below seven players should each incident be punished in such a fashion.

Carlisle added: 'I think if we were to adopt a line of social responsibility, because sport is so influential, especially football that's watched by hundreds of millions on a weekly basis, it would create a short-term period of mayhem.

Mayhem: Clark Carlisle believes there could be a turbulent period ahead if officials take a hard line on on-pitch abuse

'But I think if players were being sent off and banned because of the language that they are using then it would cause them to address their behaviour and it would cause the clubs to come down on it too.'

Carlisle's colleague at the PFA, chief executive Gordon Taylor, called for the FA's Respect campaign to be reinforced ahead of the new season in light of the case.

Taylor said: 'It has been an unedifying process and the game has been damaged as a result of the dirty linen being washed in public.

'I now want to see an improvement in the Respect campaign. It is not just the line between what is banter and what is illegal, so much of what we have heard this week needs to be cut out.

'The players are role models and everything now gets picked up in a match on television. These insults and this language leads to things that should not be said.'